Elon Musk has come under fire from the Kamala Harris campaign and leading Democrats for promoting a fake, AI-generated video of the Vice President. The video, which depicts her making controversial statements, was shared by the X (formerly Twitter) CEO on 27th July with the comment “This is amazing” followed by a laughing emoji.
The doctored video, available below, features a fabricated version of Kamala Harris declaring, “I, Kamala Harris, am your Democratic candidate because Joe Biden finally exposed his senility in the debate.” It includes images of Harris alongside Democrat supporters. The manipulated clip portrays her as saying she was “selected because I am the ultimate diversity hire” and includes phrases like “I’m both a woman and a person of color, so if you criticize anything I say you’re both sexist and racist.” The fake Harris also describes herself as a “deep fake puppet” influenced by Joe Biden.
A spokesperson for the Harris campaign condemned Musk’s actions, said “The American people want the real freedom, opportunity, and security Vice President Harris is offering; not the fake, manipulated lies of Elon Musk and Donald Trump.”
Democrat Senator Amy Klobuchar has criticized the video as potentially violating X’s policies on synthetic and manipulated media. Although Musk’s initial post labeled the video as a parody, his subsequent repost—viewed over 100 million times—did not clarify this designation.
The controversy surrounding Musk’s promotion of the video intensifies concerns about the spread of deceptive AI-generated content during the election campaign. Musk, who has been reported to donate to Trump’s campaign, recently denied a Wall Street Journal report suggesting he planned to contribute $45 million a month to Trump. Musk had previously endorsed Trump following an assassination attempt on his life.
Harris is set to be the presumptive Democratic nominee after President Joe Biden’s recent withdrawal from the 2024 presidential race.
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